The Penn's Grove record., 1887-04-09
LOOKING
A Brief Chapter on the origin of
MirrsrS.

ANY solid substance that can be
polished will, to a certain extent, an
swer for a mirror: and metallic 'look-
ing glasses'' are frequently mentioned
in the Old Testament. SJch looking
glasses were made Of mixed metal,
chiefly of copper, and were susceptible
of a lustre which Sir G. Wilkinson
says has been partially restored in
some Of those discovered at Thebes,
though buried in the earth for many
centuries. They we're round or oval,
and inserted IN handles OF metal, wood
or stone, whose form and Ornamental
ton varied with the tastes OF their
owners,
In the catacombs Of ancient Rome,
mirrors have been found which appear
to be made OF a mixture of bronze
and lead and tin, while Others are OF a
peculiar kind OF stone supposed to be
vitriiied lava.
Pliny mentions the rage FOR silver
mirrors as an evidence of Roman ex-
travagance, and says every Roman girl
wanted one. Plutarch says that De-
m~osthenes had a looking-glass-proba-
bly, of silver and sufficiently large to
reflect bis entire person-before which
he was accustomed to rehear e his
erations and arrange his gestures.
There were two serious objections
to metallic mirrors -their weight and
the fact that they were Ii BILE to dis
tort the features or those looking into
them. The latter was, Of course,
offensive to ancient beaux and bellies,
and led to the substitution or metal of
obsidlan, a black stone, sometimes
transparent''-to quote again from
Pliny-"but of so dull a transparency
that, as a mirror, it renders the shadow
rather than the image of IN object"
When the Spaniards discovered
America they found mirrors made of a
substance which they called the Inca's
stone, because 1t was used by the Pc
ruvian princes for ornamental pur-'
poses. 1t was a sort of pyrites, sus-
ceptible OF a high degree of polish and
excellently well-calculated for mirrors.
AS the ancients were familiar with
glass, it seems strange that they were
not acquainted with mirrors made
therefrom. True, Aristotle, some 400
years =. c., wrote: "Glass and crystal
must be lined with a sheet of metal In
order to give back the image presented
to them. ''But most authors regard
glass mirrors a modern invention.
The first mention of glass mirrors
after their present ~form-Cccurs in a
work on optics written by an Eng
lIsh monk, Johannes Peckbam, in 1919.
In it he speaks of ''glass mirrors, COW
cred on the back with lead, that re-
fleet lno image if the lead is scraped
off," And another careful investi-
gator thinks the invention cannot date
from q period earlier than tie middle
of the thirteenth century, because In
France, during the fourteenth century,
glass mirrors were scarce, while those
of metal were abundant.
The c~rusadeS, which did SO much to
acquaint Western with the Industries
and civilization of Eastern Europe,
was the direct cause of the introduce
ton of the manufacture of glass into
Venice. For a long time, this was the
only place where glass was manufac-
Itured, and thither every country, de-
IsiriDg articles Of glass, was compelled
Ito go go or send. Venetian glass rap
idly became famous, and its sale the
source Of an immense revenue to the
Republic.
Naturally, Venice was anxious TO Sc
cure to herself for the future SO valua-
BILE a monopoly; and to this end,
through the Council of the Ten" she
ordered the glass-makers to leave the
city proper, and establish themselves
at Murano, on an island a little DIS
tance northeast from Venice. More
over, it was proclaimed that if a
workman should export anything that
might enable other countries to enter
into competition with Venice so far as
the making Of glass was concerned
his property would be conliscated and
himself liable to be put to death.
at Murano, glass mirrors were hr5t
made after the manner suggested by
Aristotle-by placing a metallic sheet
back of the glass. The experiment did
mot prove satisfactory, and metal mir
rors remained in vogue till the begin
ming of the sixteenth century, when
two glass-makers of Murano discov-
cred the method of making mirrors
(which had for several years prevailed
lin Germany.
The German process was as follows:
Melted lead or tin was blown with a
pipe into a hollow Eall Of glass, while
hot, thereby entirely coating its Inte-
rior. When the glass had cooled, it
was cut into small, round mirrors.
The two Muranese improved on this
method by substituting an amalgam OF
tin and quicksilver in place Of the
metals used by the Germans. Then
they petitioned the Council of the
Tenn that the right to manufacture
these mirrors be granted them exclu-
sively for twenty-five years. The de-
sired privilege was granted them for
twenty years.
Wonderful success attended the en-
terprise, and, when the twenty years
had expired, hundreds engaged in it.
Indeed, so numerous were the mirror
makers, the Venetian Government sep
arated them from the other glass
makers, and established a distinct com
pany for their benefit.
Gradually, the manufacture of glass
| mirrors advanced toward perfection,
and no one did more in this direction
than Liberale Motta, who flourished at
Murano about 1880, and ''made them
of a size previously unattainable."